Meat slicing machine

ABSTRACT

A meat slicing machine includes a supporting framework, a hopper attached to the framework, and a rotatable drum in the bottom of the hopper. A set of parallel, longitudinally reciprocating blades having upwardly facing cutting edges are disposed below the drum. Several series of longitudinally spaced apart fingers project outwardly from the drum surface. A piece of meat disposed in the hopper is forced against the fingers with the aid of a pressure plate in the hopper. The fingers stab the meat, and the drum rotates the meat progressively into contact with the reciprocating knife blades to slice the meat into several cuts. Meat can be continuously fed into the hopper and sliced, and an endless conveyor belt below the blades continuously discharges the cuts from the machine to a suitable receptacle.

[ 1 Sept. 18, 1973 United States Patent [1 1 Dewhurst MEAT SLICINGMACHINE Primary Examiner-Willie G. Abercrombie An0rneyRobert L. Parkeret al.

[57] ABSTRACT A meat slicing machine includes a supporting framework, ahopper attached to the framework, and a rotat- [22] Filed:

able drum in the bottom of the hopper. A set of parallel, longitudinallyreciprocating blades having upwardly [52] U.S. 83/411 R, 83/423,83/4253, 83/751 B26d 4/06, B26d 7/06 facing cutting edges are disposedbelow the drum. Several series of longitudinally spaced apart fingersproject outwardly from the drum surface. A piece of meat dis- 51 Int. 58Field ofSearch..-............. 83/4ll R, 423, 425.2,

posed in the hopper is forced against the fingers with the aid of apressure plate in the hopper. The fingers stab the meat, and the drumrotates the meat progres- [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTSsively into contact with the reciprocating knife blades to slice themeat into several cuts. Meat can be continu- 83/423 ously fed into thehopper and sliced, and an endless 83/423 conveyor belt below the bladescontinuously discharges Jones the cuts from the machine to a suitablereceptacle. 970 Helm et al. 83/4ll R 950 Brustowsky.... 950Troyer........... 963 Lykkeberg'. 966

5 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTED SEP] 8 I975 SHEET 2 BF 2.

MEAT sucmc MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION der cuts or loin cuts.The meat is also aged in the packing plants. The primal cuts are thenshipped to the meat departments of. the various retail stores owned bythe food market chain, where the cuts are sliced, packaged, and sold tothe consumer.

Generally speaking, meat cutters in the retail stores cut boned meat byhand. Boneless meat is usually cut by a conventional slicingmachinehaving a rotary cutting disk which slices cuts one by one.Machines also have been used in the past for slicing a boneless primalcut into several cuts simultaneously, These machines generally include amovable plunger or pressure plate in a hopper for forcing meat directlyinto contact with a series of reciprocating knife blades. However, thesemachines have not saved much time when compared with the conventionalrotary disk machine, because the plunger must be retracted after eachpiece of meat is sliced, and the meat often binds against the cuttingblades, causing work to be interrupted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention provides a meat slicing machinewhich is especially useful in reducing the time normally required to cutmeat in a retail food store meat department. The machine is capable ofreceiving a continuous supply of boneless meat, such as primal cuts, andeffectively slicing each piece of meat into several smaller cutssimultaneously.

Briefly, the meat slicing machine includes a supporting framework, ahopper attached to the framework, and a rotatable drum in the bottom ofthe hopper. A set of parallel, laterally spaced apart cutting bladeshaving upwardly facing cutting edges is located beneath the drum. Thecutting blades extend in a direction substantially perpendicular to thedrum axis of rotation. The drum preferably has several series ofoutwardly projecting surface irregularities adapted to stab meatdisposed in the hopper and rotate the meat along an arcuate path againstthe blades. Means are provided for reciprocating the set of bladeslengthwise to slice the meat into several cuts simultaneously as itrotates into contact with the blades.

The rotatable drum moves the meat into contact with the blades byapplying to the meat a force having a component in the directionparallel to the length of the blades. This causes the meat to movesmoothly and progressively into contact with the blades, andsubstantially eliminates the chance of binding thev blades. Moreover,the meat-receiving surface of the drum is constantly exposed to theoperator of the machine, so the machine is capable'of receiving andslicing a continuous supply of meat. Thus, there are no longinterruptions in work, so the machine slices a substantially largerquantity of meat in a given time period than does the conventionalhand-operated slicing disk or the plunger-operated slicing machines.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other aspects of theinvention will be more fully understood by referring to the followingdetailed description and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevation view, partly broken away, showing a meat slicingmachine; and

FIG. 2 is a plan elevation view taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to thedrawings, a meat slicing machine includes a supporting frameworkcomprising a horizontally disposed rectangular frame 12 supported byupright legs 14 at the corners of the frame.

A housing 16 is mounted on horizontal frame 12. The housing includes apair of laterally spaced apart side panels 18 extending along oppositeedges of frame 12. Each side panel provides a relatively short side wallat the front portion of the machine, tapers upwardly at its middle, andprovides a relatively tall side wall at the rear portion of the machine.An upright tall rear panel 19 extends between the rear edges of sideplates 18, and an upright short front wall 20 extends between the frontedges of side plates 18. A top panel 21 covers the short front walls ofside panels 18, and a top panel 22 covers the tall rear walls of theside panels. The area between the tapered intermediate portions of theside panels is left uncovered to form a laterally extending, rectangularopening 24 between the side panels.

Opening 24 opens into a meat-receiving hopper 26 in the rear portion ofthe housing. The hopper includes a pair of laterally spaced'apart sideplates 28 spaced inwardly from side panels 18, and a rear panel 30extending between side plates 28 and spaced forward of rear panel 19.

A horizontally disposed, laterally extending, elongated rotatable drum32 extends between side plates 28 in the bottom of the hopper belowopening 24. The drum shaft is journaled in bearings mounted in uprightbrackets 34 secured to frame 12. Several circumferentially spaced apartseries of laterally spaced apart fingers 36 project radially outwardlyfrom the drum surface.

A rectangular frame 38 holds a set of parallel, longitudinallyextending, and laterally spaced apart knife blades 40 (shown best inFIG. 2) below the drum. The cutting edges of the blades face upwardlytoward the drum. The knife blades are aligned in a plane which extendsat an angle upwardly toward the rear of hopper 26. The knife blade frame38 is adapted to reciprocate longitudinally in a pair of laterallyspaced apart, angularly disposed guide channels 42 mounted on oppositesides of horizontal frame 12.

A drive mechanism 43 for rotating drum 32 and reciprocating blades 40 islocated in the front portion of housing- 16. The drive mechanismincludes a rotary drive motor 44 having its output shaft coupled by abelt 46 to a large speed-reducing pulley 48. An output shaft 50 ofpulley 48 of coupled by a belt 52 to a further speed-reducing pulley 54.An output shaft 46 of pulley 54 drives a belt 58 coupled to aspeed-reducing pulley 60, which in turn has an output shaft 62 thatdrives a belt 64 coupled to a drive pulley 66 mounted on a drive shaft68 which turns drum 32. The drum is rotated in a clockwise direction (asviewed in FIG. 1) so fingers 36 rotate toward the knife blades in thebottom of the hopper.

Pulley 54 rotates a laterally extending drive shaft 70 which isjournaled in bearings mounted in bearing blocks 72 disposed in the frontportion of the housing. Drive shaft 70 rotates a crank wheel 74 whichdrives a crank arm 76 pivotally coupled to a linkage 78 which, in turn,reciprocally drives a downwardly extending linkage 80. Linkages 78 and80 are mounted on a reciprocating shaft 81 journaled in bearings mountedin bearing blocks 82 carried on horizontal cross-pieces 83 attached tothe supporting framework 12. Rotation of crank wheel 74 causes linkage80 to pivot in a reciprocating manner about its pivot through shaft 81.The front end of an elongated drive arm 84 is connected to the free endlinkage 80, and reciprocates longitudinally as crank wheel 74 rotates. Acoupling 85 releasably connects the rear end of drive arm 84 to thefront of knife blade frame 38. Thus, cutting blades 40 reciprocatelongitudinally as crank wheel 74 rotates in response to power suppliedby drive motor 44 through the speed reducing mechanism.

The output shaft of pulley 60 also drives a belt 86 (not shown in FIG. 2for clarity) coupled to drive pulley 88 mounted to the supportingframework below the reciprocating knife blades. Pulley 88 drives apinion 90 which in turn drives a rearwardly extending and horizontallydisposed drum 92 extending along one side of the machine below thereciprocating knife blades. An endless conveyor belt 94 extendinglaterally across the machine below the knife blades is driven by drum 92and a cooperating idler drum (not shown) mounted for rotation at a pointremote from the opposite side of the machine.

During operation of the meat slicing machine, pieces of meat (not shown)are fed into opening 24 of the hopper and placed against rotating drum32. The revolving fingers 36 of the drum stab the meat as it is placedagainst the drum and rotate the meat toward reciprocating knife blades40. A spring loaded arcuately curved pressure plate 96 pivotally mountedin the upper portion of the hopper adjacent opening 24 is urged towardthe meat to apply pressure to the meat so it stays stabbed by thefingers and in contact with the drum as it rotates toward the knifeblades. The rotating drum moves the meat into contact with the bladesalong an arcuate path and with a force having a component paralel to thelength of the cutting blades. Thus, the meat is smoothly andprogressively eased into contact with the knife blades, and as the drumcontinues to rotate, the meat is forced through the reciprocating bladesuntil it is sliced into parallel cuts of a chosen width. The knife bladeframe 38 is releasably connected to the reciprocating drive mechanism,and therefore can be replaced by other sets of blades having differentspacings for cutting the meat to the desired thickness. Meat which hasbeen sliced drops onto conveyor belt 94 which carries the sliced meataway from the machine to a suitable receptacle.

Thus, large primal cuts of meat can be continuously fed onto therotating drum and sliced into cuts ready for packaging. The slicingmachine cuts meat at a substantially faster rate than presently knownmachines used in retail markets. This reduces substantially the laborcost associated with the job of cutting meat in the retail food markets.However, the persons displaced by this increased savings can be used inthe central packing plants to de-bone meat which, at the present time,is sent to the retail markets and sliced by hand. This deboned meat canthen be sliced by my machine, and thereby reduce further the labor costassociated with preparing meat for sale in retail food markets. Thus,the overall time required to supply packaged meat to the retail marketsis reduced, which assures more fresh meat for the customer and savesmoney for the market.

1 claim:

1. A machine for slicing a cut of meat comprising a supportingframework, a hopper attached to the framework, a rotatable drum in alower portion of the hopper, a set of parallel, laterally spaced apartblades having upwardly facing cutting edges located beneath the drum andextending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the drum axis ofrotation, the drum having several series of outwardly projecting surfaceirregularities adapted to stab the meat and rotate it along an arcuatepath into engagement with the blades, and means for reciprocating theset of blades lengthwise to slice the meat as it rotates into contactwith the blades.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 including a springbiased pressureplate in the hopper for forcing meat into contact with the drum.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the surface irregularitiescomprise several circumferentially spaced apart series of longitudinallyspaced apart fingers projecting outwardly from the drum surface.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 including means for releasablyattaching the set of blades in a position below the drum so the bladesmay be replaced with a different set.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 including a pressure plate spacedadjacent to one side of the drum, and in which the blades are disposedbelow the space between the drum and the pressure plate, and includingmeans for rotating the drum toward the pressure plate and the blades.

1. A machine for slicing a cut of meat comprising a supportingframework, a hopper attached to the framework, a rotatable drum in alower portion of the hopper, a set of parallel, laterally spaced apartblades having upwardly facing cutting edges located beneath the drum andextending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the drum axis ofrotation, the drum having several series of outwardly projecting surfaceirregularities adapted to stab the meat and rotate it along an arcuatepath into engagement with the blades, and means for reciprocating theset of blades lengthwise to slice the meat as it rotates into contactwith the blades.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 including aspring-biased pressure plate in the hopper for forcing meat into contactwith the drum.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the surfaceirregularities comprise several circumferentially spaced apart series oflongitudinally spaced apart fingers projecting outwardly from the drumsurface.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 1 including means forreleasably attaching the set of blades in a position below the drum sothe blades may be replaced with a different set.
 5. Apparatus accordingto claim 1 including a pressure plate spaced adjacent to one side of thedrum, and in which the blades are disposed below the space between thedrum and the pressure plate, and including means for rotating the drumtoward the pressure plate and the blades.